Phil Hall.
Who I Am
Phil is the founder and managing partner of Motif Collective. For most of his career, people called him the data guy. He'll tell you that was never quite right. He thinks of himself as an artist. Data was just the canvas. What he was actually doing was finding patterns across industries, problems, and contexts that most people treat as unrelated and turning them into something useful. Most of his clients have worked with him across two or three different companies. They follow the work, not the logo.
How I Work
Engagements start with a conversation, not a proposal. Phil gets into the room with both the leaders and the operators, asks how they do their jobs, and listens for where the friction actually lives.
From there, it's less about following a script and more about figuring out the best next move. Think Wayne Brady (Who's Line is it Anyway?), not a Big Four presentation. When it's time to build, that usually means a demo-for-demo session: prototype something, put it in front of the people who will actually use it, and treat their reaction as the real brief. Does this fit how you work, or does it add to your day? If it adds to your day, we missed the mark. So we try again.
What I Work On
Phil has supported more than 30 companies over 12 years. The work spans everything from A/B testing, designing clean room architecture, optimizing cloud costs, data platform migrations, custom app development, retail merchandising and allocation strategy, to coaching startups on talent retention and go-to-market.
Background
- 2013
Accenture
Started in consulting across retail, CPG, fashion, and beverage clients on platforms including Oracle, Teradata, MicroStrategy, Hadoop, Tableau and SAS.
- 2017
Looker
Helped start the Chicago office and grow the Midwest Territory as a sales engineer. Grew the team from 2 to 13 people and built partnership strategy across Google, Snowflake, Fivetran, and dbt.
- 2020
Google
Stayed post-acquisition. Faciliated Looker integration into Google Cloud. Helped build out industry and solution focused BigQuery GTM motion.
- 2022
Freelance
Scaled a data and analytics practice at a retail consultancy from 2 consultants to a team of 9 and tripled revenue in two years.
- 2024
Motif Collective
Founded Motif Collective.
Outside the Office
Phil is a Cicerone-certified beer server, and he loves anything to do with the science and chemistry of food: creating recipes for beer, curating coffee blends, pairing wine with homemade meals, and hosting Sunday "family dinners" for friends and family.
A typical meeting with Phil also tends to start with "Where in the world is Phil today?" His work and his passion for new people, new places, and new experiences often have him gallivanting around the world.